Drake took command at the outset after polesitter J.J. Yeley lost a bout with
the frontstretch retaining wall, then fought off a lap 18 bid from Garrett
Hansen en route to victory lane to conclude the second night of the 20th Annual
O'Reilly Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.

Jon Stanbrough battled past Hansen in the latter stages to snare the
runner-up slot. Hansen settled for the show position, with Steve Buckwalter fending
off Justin Allgaier for the fourth and final transfer to Saturday's
championship main event.

"It was fun," Drake commented afterward. "We haven't made the show the
last two years and I wasn't even expecting him (car owner Keith Kunz) to invite
me back this year, but he always sticks with me and always welcomes me back and
tells me I have a car waiting anytime I want it and that's a good feeling to
have."

Set to contend for NASCAR Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year honors in 2006, Yeley
was the star of the show throughout qualifying action. The Arizona native
made a dramatic last-corner pass of Jason Leffler to top his heat race, then
secured the pole position for the 25-lap feature by outdueling Leffler once again
in classic style in qualifying race action, this after an opening lap tangle
that sent Yeley to the rear of the 12-car qualifier.

After the original feature start was waved off for a minor tangle, it was
third-starter Hansen blasting past both Yeley and Drake in the opening two
corners. Yeley's car drifted too high exiting turn four as he battled
wheel-to-wheel for third with Jon Stanbrough near the completion of the first lap. Yeley's
car caught the retaining wall and launched into the catch fence at the
start-finish line. Although uninjured, the unique Bondio No. 47x was done for the
night.

On the restart, Drake beat Hansen to the cushion in the first corner to take
a lead he would never relinquish in the frantic non-stop 25-lap affair. But
until the final five rounds, there was little breathing room for Drake in the
Fontana-powered Keith Kunz Motorsports No. 67k Advanced Racing/Kwik Change
Bullet-chassis.

Hansen and Stanbrough shadowed Drake's every move, even after lapped traffic
came into play on the eighth round. Working adeptly through lapped traffic,
Drake finally became mired behind a pair of lapped machines on the 16th circuit.

Hansen, the 20-year-old California upstart, dove underneath Drake entering
turn one on the 18th lap in a bold move to take the lead. The former USAC
Sprint Car champion was up to the challenge however, fending off the bid and
quickly disposing of the lapped cars in response.

Drake stretched his lead to a half straightaway over the final five rounds to
secure the victory and an assured top-three starting position for Saturday
night's prestigious 20th Annual O'Reilly Chili Bowl Midget Nationals finale.

Indiana's Stanbrough slid past Hansen for second on the 20th lap and kept
Hans Lein's Esslinger-powered No. 2x Midstate Acres Spike in the runner-up slot
the rest of the way.

"I just got hooked up with Hans probably two or three weeks ago and didn't
know if I was gonna get to run for him or not and I'm really pleased that I got
to run with him," Stanbrough stated at the post-race press conference. "I
want to thank these two guys (Hansen and Buckwalter), I don't even know 'em
and they ran real clean and I'm real proud to run with 'em and really excited
to be in for Saturday night."

"This is by far the best we've ever done, I'm pretty impressed with the way
the car was, anything I wanted to do I could pretty much do," Hansen
explained. "To run up front with these guys was pretty cool."

ARDC Midget contender Steve Buckwalter of Royersford, PA, fought off young
Illinois shoe Justin Allgaier to take the fourth spot to Saturday's main event,
the second time in the last three years that Buckwalter has locked into the
finale through his preliminary feature.

"This is all I really wanted, just to come out here and run with these guys
is great, I basically just run the whole ARDC deal and try to scrape enough
money together to get out there and run with everybody," Buckwalter explained.

Allgaier rounded out the top five, while Leffler charged from 13th to sixth.
Kevin Swindell turned in the top Chili Bowl rookie performance of the opening
two nights by claiming seventh, besting Brent Beauchamp's eleventh place
showing on Wednesday night.

Defending Chili Bowl champion Tracy Hines was eighth, with 2005 National
Midget Driver of the Year Brad Kuhn and 16th-starter Michael Trimble completing
the top ten.

Thomas Meseraull, John Wolfe, Gary Wright and John Sarna each scored Last
Chance Race wins, with Allgaier, Yeley, Buckwalter and Drake acing the Qualifying
Races.

Wright outlasted Kemenah to win the first 15-lap B Main, with youngster Cole
Whitt topping the second B Main.

Jay Jordan and Eric Schrock flipped during heat race action, with Russ Harper
getting upside down during Last Chance competition. Malone and Matt Mitchell
were involved in a wild double-flip during Qualifying Race action, with
Mitchell later flipping into the turn two fencing during the B Mains. Other B Main
flips included John Wolfe, Jonathan Beason and Kenny Brown. There were no
injuries.